The Town of Athabasca has approved its 2013 capital budget.
During the regular meeting of town council last Tuesday, council voted unanimously in favor of passing the budget with the addition of addressing residentsí concerns regarding 47 Street and dust control.
Although the town didnít budget to pave the road as residents asked, it is going to potentially fix the drainage issues in that area, and then if it is brought forward as a local improvement, future councils will consider paving.
Councillor Paula Evans said council cannot pave the road unless it is a local improvement.
ìIt is a matter of consistency,î she said. ìWhy can we treat one area of town differently than another?î
During a delegation to council, residents who live on the street said they did not want to pay for local improvement because there is more through traffic than local traffic on the street.
ìEvery street has through traffic,î Evans said. ìThere are through streets everywhere. You canít just limit traffic to the people who live there.î
Councillor Tim Verhaeghe said that although they are not paving the road this year, they have added a line to the capital budget to address the concerns.
ìWe are going to pack it. It is a temporary fix. What we have budgeted is $100,000 for the water issues.î
Verhaeghe said council is trying to address the concern of dust.
Mayor Roger Morrill said he was impressed with councilís response to the dust control issues.
ìWe are going to do our best to address that.î
Morrill said with the start of a new chief administrative officer and new engineering firm, the town would like to give them a chance to be brought up to speed before council starts addressing major projects.
Morrill described the capital budget as fiscally conservative.
ìThere is no borrowing or debt incurred. The other thing I am very proud of council ó and yes we are in a financially strong position at this time ó but no one suggested going out and breaking open the piggy bank in order to appear that we are doing lots of things prior to an election.î
ìThis is not an election budget.î
Evans said that although they are being fiscally responsible, she would have liked to see some funding for local programs.
ìI was disappointed that we didnít help fund PRAAC, or support a library study,î she said. ìIt was just a bare-bones budget. Anything that wasnít central business, core business, was not supported this year.î
However, she said the major project the council budgeted for this year was a new supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system.
ìIt is electronic communications so that the water treatment plant can monitor all the reservoirs.î
Numbers
Under public works, town council has allocated $43,000 towards the paving of 43 Avenue. Patching and paving as well as their sidewalk program have been allocated $70,000. Gravel road reconstruction has been allocated $150,000.
The installation of a speed hump on 45 Avenue received $5,000.
The total budget for public works is $338,000.
The town has allotted $560,000 to water projects within the town. Council budgeted $500,000 towards the new SCADA system for the water treatment plant, and $60,000 to servicing Wood Heights Road. The Lagoon project falls under sewer, and $5,000 is being taken from reserves for this project.
Under community, the town has given $40,000, of which $20,000 is grants, to the Riverfront sidewalk. The riverfront fountain was allocated $50,000 in funding. The Lionís Playground was budgeted for $22,400.
The Athabasca Regional Multiplex received $23,987 out of reserves.
The swimming pool was allocated $10,000, also out of reserves.
The sports fields were allocated $32,019.
Under administration, the town budgeted $17,455 for a copier.
The total budget is just over $1 million.
